5 Year Jaunt

Wow...time really does fly when you're having fun!  JP and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last weekend and what an amazing ride these past 5 years have been, especially this past year as we welcomed Miss Reese into our lives.

We weren't quite ready to head off on a big trip without Reese, so we decided to just enjoy this great city we live in for the majority of our Saturday.  As we both mentioned earlier, Reese was well taken care of by the Beverly's, so we decided to jaunt around Austin and enjoy the beautiful day.  The rule was we couldn't go to any place we had been before...and we stuck to it!

Our first stop was the Shuck Shack on East Cesear Chavez.  Such a great outdoor place, complete with a bocce ball court and horseshoes.  We were really looking forward to some raw oysters and come to find out, their shucker doesn't arrive until 4:30, so no raw oysters until then.  Instead we had the ceviche, which was quite good.

Next stop, 2nd Street District.  We headed into Lambert's for a refreshing cocktail and their gourmet frito pie.  Let me just tell you that this thing is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! It's basically fritos, a little bit of brisket, goat cheese, homemade green chile queso and a little pico de gallo...I could have eaten 3 orders of it on my own!  Then we headed to La Condesa, which is supposed to be famous for their ceviche, but since we already had our ceviche fix at Shuck Shack we decided on the nachos.  They weren't your traditional nachos, but oh-so-tasty!

My friend, Megan (who recently moved to Austin) met up with us and since she lives downtown, we decided to go soak up the evening sun a bit on her rooftop pool.  It really has such an amazing view of Lady Bird Lake, the Congress bridge and the Austin skyline.  We hung out until the sun went down and even watched the bats fly...something we hadn't done yet, either.

that line in the sky are the bats

Finally, 9 o'clock rolls around and we figured we should probably go grab some dinner.  We decided on Vespaio on South Congress and it did not disappoint!  I think we got on the wait list around 20 minutes after 9 for a 45 minute wait, but luckily we were able to find a tall top in the bar a little sooner.  JP and I love sitting in the bar, but Reese is usually with us and it doesn't work so well with a baby, car seat, etc, so it was a treat!  The food was AMAZING!  They had a special of the day, which was gnocchi with a tomato cream sauce, avacado and lobster, but much to our dismay, they were sold out.  Of course, my wheels start turning (I was determined to taste this treat) and I'm thinking they are probably sold out because they were out of lobster, so I asked about just getting the gnocchi without the lobster and it worked!  Even better...they added shrimp to it!  JP and I shared that along with the veal saltimbocca.  Oh and how could I forget our awesome appetizer...just made fresh mozzarela on top of an artichoke puree and tomato puree served with foccacia bruschetta....DELECTABLE!

So, can you tell we are foodies?  A good cocktail or glass of wine accompanied by a good plate of food and conversation is all we need to celebrate and remind us of what an amazing 5 years it's been.  Love you, babe!